


i will listen, tell it all

by snowyleeknow



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Conversations, Domestic Fluff, Han Jisung | Han is Whipped, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Isolation, Lee Minho | Lee Know-centric, M/M, References to Depression, Teasing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29612184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowyleeknow/pseuds/snowyleeknow
Summary: “Won’t you let me in?”“No, I look like shit.”“You always look like shit.”“Brat.”“Ugly.”“Idiot.”“Ba~by.”Minho laughs at that last one; Jisung ran out of ideas so soon. But Minho always lets him win withbabyanyway, stupid Jisung. Stupid, patient,wonderfulJisung.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 8
Kudos: 123





	i will listen, tell it all

**Author's Note:**

> just wrote a little thing to let out stress, enjoy~ :) 
> 
> title is from "ready now" by dodie, and the fic is inspired by that + "the other side of the door" by taylor swift ♡
> 
> (for allie~♡)

_Knock, knock, knock._

“Minho…?”

Minho tries to look up from where he’d buried himself in his hoodie, only the TV and the sunset illuminating his living room. The call of his name is faintーloud enough to be heard, but quiet enough to sound a little bit unsureーand he has half a working brain to put the pieces together and understand who it’s coming from.

“Minho, it’s me… Can we talk, please?”

Minho doesn’t want to get up from the couch. He _almost_ relents at the voice, _almost_ wants to jump out in joy from the sound of it. But he doesn’tー _can’t_. Every part of his body has been drowned in subtle, but constant hurt. Moving seems impossible. Going through his thoughts feels like running a marathon. Everything just makes him so, goddamn _tired_.

There’s another set of soft knocks, a burst of determination from the other side of the door. Minho switches the channel as some sort of challenge, perhaps some indication that he could hear him. He knew it was cruelーchildish, evenーjust lying there on his couch and playing with his remote, trying to see if the other man would leave. But he wasn’t always defeated so easily, and Minho knew that. No, they stood on equal ground, the two of them. It almost makes him feel a little light in the head. But then again, everything makes Minho nauseous, lately.

_Cold, stone-hearted, stupid Lee Minho, what would you have anyone do with you now?_

“Min… Just tell me you’re okay. I’ll go if you want, just let me hear your voice.” A pause. “I just need to know you’re there.”

A long sigh escapes Minho’s lips. The news anchor on TV isn’t even looking into the camera, and it almost feels like she’s mocking him; _go on, Minho, go to him, there’s no one there to watch._ So Minho tosses the remote onto the loveseat in frustration, and does the one thing he didn’t expect to be doing tonight: he gets up. He’s still drowning in his extra-large hoodie but he gets up and walks towards the door, and for a moment, he just stares. He stares, and then he gives three knocksー _knock knock knock_ ーback to the other man, and then he wonders if he was meant to hear the sigh of relief that came afterwards.

“Oh, hey… there you are, Min.”

Well, it was likely that he was. _Of course_ he was meant to hear it. It was Han Jisung. He never once gave Minho even a second of time to doubt that he cared.

Minho didn’t say anything back, and he didn’t open the door. He just turned his back and slid to the floor, sitting with his back now against the wooden frame with an unceremonious _thump._ By the sound coming from the other side, it seems that Jisung had done the same, and Minho let himself smile, just a little. And, truthfully, it’s a little sad that it feels almost unfamiliar on his lips.

“I miss you,” Jisung started, his head level with Minho’s from the other side. “You haven’t answered your phone in weeks.”

Ah, _yes_. He hasn’t. Minho hasn’t _turned his phone on_ in almost a month. No games, no friends, no socials. Just the TV droning on when he wasn’t working himself to the bone. He laughs a silent chuckle, breathy and a tad bitter, just a little bit intrigued that it’s taken this long for anyone to check up on him like this. Jisung, no less. But then again, this wasn’t the first time Minho had done this; everyone knew to keep their distance, it was par for the course. But this was the first time Minho had become this way for _this_ long. He didn’t really realize it until the knocking on his door reminded him.

“I was worried about you. Everyone’s worried about you.”

 _Shit, Jisung, I’m kinda fucking worried about me, too,_ Minho wants to retort. With no venom, of courseーJisung would understand. He’s been holed up in his apartment for almost a month since he decided he wanted to work from home, and he feels like he’s descending into madness. Minho feels like he’s trapped in some sort of wonderland, which was a kinder way of saying he willingly plunged himself into his own personal hell, and he sort of enjoys it. He _knows_ that that’s when it gets dangerous, but it was always difficult for him to stop believing the lies he tells himself about loneliness, anyway. It lulls him into false safety during the times he feels like he doesn’t have a hold on anything in his mind. When he has to work and then sleep and then repeat until he feels numb. When he doesn’t have his friendsーwhen he doesn’t have Jisung. When he only has _himself_ , and he realizes after a few hours of spending time with himself that he doesn’t really _like_ that guy.

“I just wanted to make sure you weren’t doing anything stupid, Min.” Jisung’s head thumps softly against the door. “The last time…”

Minho remembers the last time. He doesn’t want to. He wishes that _Jisung_ didn’t have to. Minho forgot to eat and sleep and do _anything_ , and he knows that both of them felt helpless. No matter how hard Jisung tried to smile for him, to keep being strongーthey both felt a little helpless. Nothing about it was easy. It still isn’t. It’s probably never going to be.

“Sorry,” Jisung says, barely audible, like Minho wasn’t even supposed to hear. “Do you want me to leave?”

Even though Minho can’t see him, even though they’re back to back with a stupid door between themーhe can hear it in Jisung’s shaky voice that he’s fighting the urge to burst into tears. He’s sitting out in Minho’s apartment’s empty hallway and god knows Minho isn’t going to slam that door in his face, but words can’t come out no matter how much he wants them to. But he tries. It’s never easy, but he always tries, so Minho fights back the lump in his throat to push through the huskiness of his lately unused voice, replying in an instant with the truest words he could form.

“Stay, Jisung.”

He hears shuffling on the other side, and Minho imagines the way Jisung’s slumped shoulders probably perked up, the way his face brightened at finally hearing Minho’s voice. It was the first time in a month, for god’s sake. Fuck. Minho hadn’t spoken to Jisungーhis fucking _boyfriend_ ーfor a whole month.

“Won’t you let me in, baby?”

Minho chuckles at the stupid pet nameー _ah, getting right back to the teasing, I see_ ーand the smile on his face is so big and so _real_ that it almost hurts. But it’s the good kind of hurt, and Minho is relieved that he can still feel it, that he can feel _anything_ after all this time.

“No, I look like shit.”

“You always look like shit.”

“Brat.”

“Ugly.”

“Idiot."

“ _Ba~by_.”

Minho laughs at that last one; Jisung ran out of ideas so soon. But Minho always lets him win with _baby_ anyway, stupid Jisung. Stupid, patient, _wonderful_ Jisung.

“How are you?” Minho asks, the husk in voice refusing to subside.

“Fine. Just missed you.”

“How’s everyone else?”

“Good…” Jisung trailed off, and Minho could hear him tapping his fingers against the floor. “Chan finally asked Felix out, but you always knew that was gonna happen anyway… oh, and, uh, Changbin got promoted?”

“ _Really?_ ”

Minho is a little surprised at his own surprise, his unmistakably _instant_ reaction. He’s surprised that he’s still _capable_ of it. 

“Yeah.”

“How the hell did he manage _that_?”

“Dunno.”

He’s also surprised at Jisung’s news, because all he ever heard about Changin’s work was that his boss was a little shit, and now he was apparently in the little shit’s good graces. Minho had missed out on a lot. The past month didn’t seem like _a lot,_ really. Not until now.

“Jisung… are you mad at me?”

“No,” comes the answer from the other side, and Minho is surprised at the lack of hesitation. “Why would I be mad at you?”

“I don’t know. My phone’s been off for weeks, you haven’t _seen_ me for weeksーI won’t even open the door.” Minho smirked, teasing his boyfriend even now when he wasn’t remotely pleased with himself, if only just to warm up the cold air pooling in his lungs.

“I know you need your space, sometimes…” Jisung said, all serious, before continuing, “...you know, as long as you’re, like, _alive_. It’s fine. I miss you.”

“God…” Minho mutters to himself. “How many times am I gonna have to get up today…”

He doesn’t mean it. Minho should probably stop joking about everything when he’s at his lowest, but that’s a dilemma for another time. He follows his muttering with action, getting up from the floor so uncharacteristically fast that he feels like his knees could have cracked, and he opens the door before Jisung can even know what’s happening. There’s an _aaaah!_ and some curses when Jisung has to stop himself from falling onto his back after the door was flung open, but the sight that greeted Minho kept him from feeling sorry in the slightest.

He couldn’t, for some reason, bring himself to look his boyfriend in the eye, but Minho would find comfort in that familiar figure anywhere. He feels like he’s floating when two hands grab his own, warming them up from where they were hidden in the cuffs of his hoodie. Jisung is wearing his prettiest smile and has that same sparkle in his eyes, his cheeks soft and ready for the poking. Minho wants to reach out, but he doesn’t.

“Look at me,” Jisung pleads. Minho shakes his head no, and he can see Jisung’s pout from the corner of his eye.

Minho pulls him into a hug instead, burying himself into Jisung’s neck like he belonged there. He probably did, by all means. They fit perfectly, anyway.

“Okay, got it, it’s okay,” Jisung soothes, rubbing mindless patterns into his back. “I’m here.”

He is. Jisung is here. Minho holds him tighter just to remind himself it’s real, feeling his chest warming up when he has the will to speak again, eyeing the things still sitting in the hallways where Jisung was a few seconds ago.

“What did you bring?”

“Your favorite food. I thought I could stay for dinner.”

“And the bag?” Minho questions, finally pulling away, finally looking Jisung in the eye to raise his eyebrow in succession.

“Clothes,” Jisung says smugly. “I thought I could, you know. Stay for the _night_.”

“ _Brat_ , so you assumed I was just gonna let you in?”

“Well…” Jisung fake pouts, “you did, didn’t you?”

Minho narrows his eyes, with no malice at all. “I’ll kick you out, Han Jisung.”

“No, you won’t,” Jisung proves his point by squeezing Minho’s hands tighter, knowing that the older man wasn’t going to let go. _Damn him._ Seemingly satisfied with the teasing, Jisung adds with a sheepish grin, “I don’t think you look like shit, by the way.”

Minho has to stop himself from blushing. _Goddamn,_ Jisung was too much, in all the best ways. He was way too much, and Minho wanted more.

“Come on,” Minho tried to dodge, though he felt the blood rushing to his ears already. “Bring the food and your stupid clothes. You smell like the outside world.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Minho wants to tell Jisung everything is good as long as it’s him, but he can’t help teasing back. “Don’t know. You should come shower with me, though.”

“Fine. You’re _mean_ ,” Jisung smiles devilishly, although his brain is clearly short-circuiting at the proposition. He pulls Minho in for a dizzying kiss on the lips and Minho melts into it, falling back so naturally into Jisung after so much time apart. He lets Jisung pull away from him to move everything he brought past the dorm frame, thankful that it could make his heart feel lighter, if only just a little.

“I love you,” Jisung blurted out of nowhere, smiling softly at Minho the way that only the two of them understood. “So much.”

Minho smiled back, knowing fully well that Jisung could see the bags under his eyes, the lines on his face. It would be fine, for now. Minho trusted that. It’s never going to be easy, but they’re always ready to try.

“Missed you,” Minho said simply, pressing himself into Jisung’s warmth. “I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading ♡♡ minho in this fic is literally just how i've been feeling lately so i tried to channel it into something else :')) leave kudos or comments if you want to!


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